Cash Night

A Night For Celebration, Growth, and Leadership

Photo from Online

During my sophomore year, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to attend cash night. My uncertainty mainly came from the awkwardness I experienced as a young teenager. I felt vulnerable and was afraid to put myself out there as I had yet to feel a part of my new high school, and the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to my status as a day student only made things worse. I dreaded the idea of having to maintain a conversation with someone I didn’t know without embarrassing myself. However, a part of me still wanted to go to the event, mainly because there would be an upperclassman I would interact with–going to Cash Night would give me an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone. Ultimately, as I reflect upon my experiences since sophomore year, I have concluded that Cash Night is an extremely important and positive tradition at Middlesex. 

Middlesex is spared from the bleak, depressing nature of the winter season thanks to the invigorating, contagious excitement Cash Night creates. Unlike other major events like Spring Fling or Fall Formal, Cash Night is arguably a much more welcoming and toned-down event that still maintains a fun nature. When people take poker chips from one another, for example, it reminds me that we are still kids who are cunningly playful. Despite the formality and maturity a casino theme evokes, Cash Night exhibits fun in moderation. 

I admire Cash Night for being an opportunity for students–underclassmen, in particular–to grow: it is an opportunity to refine one’s social skills. There are many times in which we unconsciously form connections with others whom we may have not initially known. Cash Night’s various stressful, thought-provoking, and collaborative games provide us with multiple opportunities to learn how to become confident in times of distress. Personally, I believe that Cash Night is one of the best reflections of leadership at Middlesex, as it is always inspiring to see underclassmen become upperclassmen and take on the role of leading the night after everything they have learned. 

It is up to the leadership of upperclassmen, specifically seniors, to help create a welcoming, inclusive environment for everyone on campus. Seniors and juniors make sure that the majority of underclassmen experience the excitement they deserve after seeing a poster with their name on it in Ware Hall by “setting each other up” with their underclassmen friends. Beyond the inclusion, upperclassmen demonstrate their leadership through the responsibilities they take and the accommodation they show by making their dates feel comfortable. 

Still, I do have one critique about Cash Night: the games. It is not a question of their difficulty, but rather, I feel as though the upperclassmen need to do a better job of learning how to play the games so that the night can be more competitive and fun. Additionally, while it is not necessarily problematic that the event conforms to traditional gender roles with each pair often being male and female-identifying students, it should be made more clear that any upperclassmen is allowed to ask any underclassman to attend. The term “date” is often misleading, as the event suggests nothing about romance, so the language used to talk about the event should be altered to be more clear and accommodating. While Cash Night is not perfect, it's an important Middlesex tradition I will always look forward to.

Luca Raffa